Wyoming Outlaw: WI5 M-Thought Provoking

Early this season, climbers Shawn Gregory, Chris Guyer and the intrepid Aaron Mulkey sniffed around cowboy country for climbable ice smears. Along the way, an ice pillar gives these desperadoes more than they bargained for.

[Photo] Aaron Mulkey

Climbers Shawn Gregory, Chris Guyer and Aaron Mulkey started early-season ice scouting along the Wyoming-Montana border in September. The team had their eyes on a potential line of pillars through mixed bands of rock and thin ice. Mulkey wrote on his blog of his plan to get an early first ascent, "A large cold front with precipitation was going to be settling in over the next week, which I figured would prime the route for an ascent." The cold front did promote ice formation, but not without consequence. "Apparently winter was not going to give us a warm-up," Mulkey wrote.